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Thread: My E34 530i Manual Thread

  1. #1
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    My E34 530i Manual Thread

    So on February 2nd of this year I drove from Olympia Washington to Portland Oregon to trade in my Mini Cooper S for my dream car an e34.

    After a two hour drive I arrived at the dealership. Looked in all the standard places for rust, checked for any problems, did the stomp test, then took it on a test drive and everything checked out. So after some paperwork, a handshake, then getting all my things out of my car, I left with a new ride and some cash on top. I drove it back home with no problems and excited as hell.

    Two weeks after a purchase with a oil change somewhere in there it had its first snow in my possession so I had to take some pics. shoutout to any frank fans

    I got a new coworker with a nice car so here’s a quick photoshoot lol

    Had a smell of burning oil and after inspecting and research I decided it was the valve cover gaskets. So time to change them!
    M60 engines look so beautiful under their valve covers.
    I decided to paint them because they had flaked paint and I wanted it to look nicer. Also the first time I tried changing them I ended up getting the wrong ones so I had to do it twice :/ also changed the trans and diff oil!

    Drove to work then I had blue smoke coming out then I popped the hood and saw this. A valve cover stud got stripped and I didn’t notice so it popped out. Luckily my engine was still fine and not too much oil came out.

    it was 101°F when I changed then so maybe I was a little overheated when I was doing it.

    Best upgrade ever right here No more spilt drinks!

    I found an unsettling rot in the carpet and when i replaced it I found rust so it was time for some rust repair. this rust remover worked great.
    It’s not perfect but it’s close enough for under the carpet.

    An E39 wagon was parked and I love wagons


    Around this time I had my slave cylinder go out and that was an absolute bitch to change so hopefully I’ll be good for a while with a new OEM one.

    I clayed, waxed, and sealed my car so it was sittin pretty.


    Got tired of the big boat steering wheel and found a good deal so I got a momo

    Next thing on my to do list was to fix the floaty driving feeling and the blown rear suspension so I got some coilovers and installed them.
    Fronts did not work so this was my trunk lol

    Had to drive up to a pick n pull and got these for $15.

    My back seat was kinda messy and full

    Suspension work sucks

    I need a garage. But I got the fronts installed and the rears and now I’m driving with no boat feeling and no more wiggle in the steering wheel.

    And that brings us up to today. I’m sure I left out some stuff but I will be updating this thread as I do work

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    2000 BMW Z3 Coupe
    Let me know how the Coils ride when you're done. I plan on buying a set of KWs for the Z3 in the spring and then afterward for my 530i if I like them enough. I just dont want to make the ride too harsh

  3. #3
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    e34 m50b20 '95 NV
    what is this, the cup holder? Where did you get this? :o

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by shiremux View Post
    what is this, the cup holder? Where did you get this? :o
    I think it's this

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-e32-e34...d/173599134159

  5. #5
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    Shira i got it from here
    https://www.etsy.com/listing/1133563...8aAuAsEALw_wcB


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  6. #6
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    Pick n pull has some great deals, time to start a black interior conversion lol


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  7. #7
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    What's that little see through bar behind the drivers side cluster?

    Very cool paint color though. I love green E34s.

  8. #8
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    My E34 530i Manual Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by CarterH View Post
    What's that little see through bar behind the drivers side cluster?

    Very cool paint color though. I love green E34s.
    Its the vin from the old car. I need to figure out how to switch the one from mine though. And thank you, i love oxford green


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    Last edited by Fresco34; 04-18-2019 at 05:57 PM.

  9. #9
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    New dash is in!


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  10. #10
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    '94 525iT,'95 RR Classic
    Let me know when you are ready to part with the front seats. Interested!!


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  11. #11
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    looks good man. i finally picked p my 525i today and soon will start working on it too. got some plans for it and hopefully it will turn out as good as yours. let me know how that blk interior conversion goes, that is also on my list to do. are you replacing the carpet as well?

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by shortbaldguy View Post
    Let me know when you are ready to part with the front seats. Interested!!


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    Sorry for the late reply i didn’t realize anybody had responded, woops. But u will let you know when i finally get a good pair of black sport seats or leman confettis haha.


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  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by disguy View Post
    looks good man. i finally picked p my 525i today and soon will start working on it too. got some plans for it and hopefully it will turn out as good as yours. let me know how that blk interior conversion goes, that is also on my list to do. are you replacing the carpet as well?
    Im gonna go ahead and dye the carpet when i get to it, ive seen a lot of people do it and i have been happy with what ive seen and can practice on home depot scraps they give out for free lol. What year is your 525i?


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  14. #14
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    moroza is offline MORΩN ΛABIA BMW CCA Member
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  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by moroza View Post
    Lookin' good. Black on green >> beige on green. How big is that wheel? It looks to block the gauges some.
    True but black just gets so much hotter in the sun

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by moroza View Post
    Lookin' good. Black on green >> beige on green. How big is that wheel? It looks to block the gauges some.
    Its the perfect size that you can see everything, but anything smaller would block the turn signals and some other stuff


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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by ihm96 View Post
    True but black just gets so much hotter in the sun
    Thats what tint is for


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  18. #18
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    Getting festive this year


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  19. #19
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    boxes of fun!


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  20. #20
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    I definitely need to get my baby tinted at some point, but all the mechanical revitalizing comes first before cosmetics. I just had new upper thrust arms and tie rods put in as well as the rear pitmans and sway bar links, car feels much tighter now. Moosehead engineering bushings for the thrust arms make a fairly cheap but noticeable upgrade over stock

    Quote Originally Posted by Fresco34 View Post
    Thats what tint is for


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  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by ihm96 View Post
    I definitely need to get my baby tinted at some point, but all the mechanical revitalizing comes first before cosmetics. I just had new upper thrust arms and tie rods put in as well as the rear pitmans and sway bar links, car feels much tighter now. Moosehead engineering bushings for the thrust arms make a fairly cheap but noticeable upgrade over stock
    The next thing for my car is definitely replacing all the bushings and endlinks, i just gotta get a few paychecks to replace my Christmas deficit


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  22. #22
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    Maybe I missed it, but what kind of shocks/springs or coilovers did you go with. My suspension is tired and I'm (not) looking forward to replacing EVERYTHING. I already have a 16pc sway bar/tie rod/BJ/bushing set waiting on me ordering the right shocks and springs. And I believe I'm missing top mounts(?) on my front strut towers, at least.. I'm expecting my factory service manual in any day now to get to the bottom of this suspension shindig. ...coming from Jap cars... I, too, am newly the proudish owner of a '95 530i/5speed

  23. #23
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    I havent gotten to coilovers yet, but I just did new thrust arms and moosehead engineering spherical bushings for those arms plus tie rods and I have to say that the moosehead bushings were an awesome suspension upgrade for the money and they look very durable as well as being cheap to rebuild if anything ever does go bad.

    On another note... my car had an old man moment last night and stranded me for the first time. I was driving into center city philly and she dumped out all her coolant and started smoking. I parked before she got anywhere too close to the red on the temp gauge. Tried to fill it to see if maybe I could limp home but it all dumped right back out, I couldnt see from where, and it was 20 degrees so I just waited for a tow.

    Now I gotta go investigate today, hopefully its something easy

    Quote Originally Posted by Stubocca View Post
    Maybe I missed it, but what kind of shocks/springs or coilovers did you go with. My suspension is tired and I'm (not) looking forward to replacing EVERYTHING. I already have a 16pc sway bar/tie rod/BJ/bushing set waiting on me ordering the right shocks and springs. And I believe I'm missing top mounts(?) on my front strut towers, at least.. I'm expecting my factory service manual in any day now to get to the bottom of this suspension shindig. ...coming from Jap cars... I, too, am newly the proudish owner of a '95 530i/5speed

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stubocca View Post
    Maybe I missed it, but what kind of shocks/springs or coilovers did you go with. My suspension is tired and I'm (not) looking forward to replacing EVERYTHING. I already have a 16pc sway bar/tie rod/BJ/bushing set waiting on me ordering the right shocks and springs. And I believe I'm missing top mounts(?) on my front strut towers, at least.. I'm expecting my factory service manual in any day now to get to the bottom of this suspension shindig. ...coming from Jap cars... I, too, am newly the proudish owner of a '95 530i/5speed
    I did bilstein sports with vogtland springs, it feels so much better than stock and is pretty stiff but still comfortable. Just make sure you replace all your tophats or you will still be pretty squeaky and lose. Tunershop had a good sale on the vogtland springs shipping just takes a little bit.


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  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by ihm96 View Post
    I havent gotten to coilovers yet, but I just did new thrust arms and moosehead engineering spherical bushings for those arms plus tie rods and I have to say that the moosehead bushings were an awesome suspension upgrade for the money and they look very durable as well as being cheap to rebuild if anything ever does go bad.

    On another note... my car had an old man moment last night and stranded me for the first time. I was driving into center city philly and she dumped out all her coolant and started smoking. I parked before she got anywhere too close to the red on the temp gauge. Tried to fill it to see if maybe I could limp home but it all dumped right back out, I couldnt see from where, and it was 20 degrees so I just waited for a tow.

    Now I gotta go investigate today, hopefully its something easy
    Im scared for the first time i get stranded. Hopefully it doesnt happen for a while, or ever.


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